CSG Fitness Feature with BethelFitMum

My name is Mosope Idowu. I am married with 2 children aged 3 and 14 months. I am an Engineering Project Manager by profession but my passion is being a mom to my children and fitness.

How did you get into fitness?

I have always been fairly active. From a fairly young age I participated in various sports at school. I worked with a personal trainer for a few years but stopped when I got pregnant with my first child (in 2012) because I thought it wouldn’t be safe for me to continue. I kept trying to get back into a healthy lifestyle for a few years, but it wasn’t until after I gave birth to my second child (in 2015) that I REALLY got into fitness. After 2 unhealthy and difficult pregnancies, I was now overweight and lacked energy.

I started with gradual changes to my eating habits right after my daughter was born and started working out at home for about 15-30 minutes a day once I was cleared by my physician to do so. It wasn’t easy but I kept at it and as the year went on I increased the intensity, frequency and length of my workouts.

How did being pregnant change your body?

As I wasn’t very active and disciplined with my eat habits before pregnancy, I gained A LOT of weight during each pregnancy and often felt fatigued.

How hard were you exercising before you became

pregnant? What were you doing?

I was seeing a trainer doing crossfit 2-3 times a week before my first child, and going to the gym or running once or twice a week before my second.

When you found out you were pregnant, did you modify your workout routine?

Both times I stopped working out completely. How & Why? Because since I wasn’t consistent and disciplined before getting pregnant, it was really hard to keep at it. Also, because I wasn’t very well educated on prenatal/postpartum fitness I thought it would be unsafe for me and baby.

What was a typical diet plan for you?

I pretty much ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, the only saving grace I guess was that I tended to have aversions to certain foods during pregnancy.

How did each trimester affect working out?

Unfortunately, I got less and less active.

What are your tips for those who are pregnant and trying to stay fit?

I would advise them to educate themselves on what is safe and keep being as physically active as possible (even if it’s just walking) for their sake and the babies sake.

How were you able to bounce back?

I guess for me it was not so much a bounce back as a startup. I just set my mind to it, it decided that it was time to take control of my health and start living a more active and healthy lifestyle. I set a goal for myself and kept working at it. I stopped using my kids as excuses but as reasons for a healthy lifestyle.

What’s your workout and diet routine?

Before returning to work I would workout 5-6 times a week for 1-1.5 hours doing everything from HITT, to lifting, to running and using various cardio and weight machines at the gym. Now that I am back at work full time I still do the same kind of workouts and I try to work out about 3-4 times a week for about 45 minutes to an hour.

I also keep my dinners low carb and try not to skip meals, especially on my high intensity workout days.

How do you stay fit with 2 kids now?

There are various strategies that I have adopted this so that I don’t get overwhelmed or discouraged

I try to go the gym early in the morning or during my lunch break at work so that It doesn’t take away from the time I have to spend with my kids.

I involve them in my workouts when I can, using them as weights or encouraging them to join in with me.

I joined a gym that has reliable, quality childcare so that I know they are being well taken care of when I take them with me.

I aim to teach them good eating habits by preparing family meals that are healthy and yummy for the whole family to enjoy together.

I take my kids out more to places like the zoo and the park which keeps me and them active.

If you could do things differently for your fit pregnancy, what would that be?

Oh if I could do my pregnancies all over again I would have eaten healthier and remained active throughout.

How do you feel about your body now?

I am actually in the best shape and tone of my life after 2 kids. But after 2 pregnancies there is quite a difference in how some parts of my body looks. I am very happy with how my body looks now, but I am still working hard to tone up my belly area more.

You also help people lose weight and stay healthy, how does that inspire you to stay healthy?

Helping others keeps me accountable to myself and to my clients. Seeing them stay committed to their goals and achieving results inspires me to keep setting goals for myself and work hard to achieve them.

Lola is a Fitness and lifestyle blogger with a passion for God, family, fitness, and people. She started Christsoldiergirlfitness to share hope and motivation to empower women both physically and spiritually. Read More…

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